Article 71 of the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia establishes administrative liability for littering and damaging the forest of Georgia with harmful substances. A forest is one of the most sensitive ecosystems: even a single entry of a harmful substance may cause the drying-out or disease of trees, and restoration takes years. On this page we describe in detail which acts are punished under this article, what fine is provided, how causation and the consequence are established, and what this means in practice for foresters, owners and participants in industrial activity.
What Article 71 determines
Under the norm, the littering and damaging of the forest of Georgia with radioactive, bacteriological, chemical or other harmful substances, radioactive waste, industrial, household or other wastewater, or harmful emissions, which has caused the drying-out or disease of the forest, entails a fine of 1000 GEL. The list is broad and covers both the types of substances and their sources — from waste to wastewater and emissions.